Thursday, November 12, 2009

I come to you tonight with a great feeling of relief because I have FINALLY finished the quilt that has given me nothing but problems for the past 4 months. It started out easy enough, a quilt to comfort a far away friend dealing with tragedy. I figured it could be the warm hug that I was unable to give so many miles away. I talked to other mutual friends and they wanted to help, making donations to it's creation. Great! We were going to get together to send our old friend all of our love. Let's get to sewing!

And I did. I went and got so many beautiful fabrics, designed a pattern, and started to sew. It started out so well too. Sure, there were some small problems mismeasurements, running out of fabrics, basic stuff, easy to fix. I finished the quilt front in about 2 weeks.

After I finished the front I moved onto the back. I'd decided to do a patchwork for the back too so after measuring the final size of my quilt front I began cutting and blocking. That's when the first problem happened, apparently my measuring tape was off. A little bit each inch which added up to about 8" across my quilt when all was said and done. I found this out when I was laying the back, batting, and front out to pin them all together for quilting. I had to take them all apart and add to the backing fabric. Since it was about midnight when I found this all out, I folded the pieces and put them on the side table and went to bed.

The next morning I awoke to the quilt bottom on the floor, the top outside, and the batting all in pieces. My chew happy dog had taken them off the table and decided to make them her own. Luckily she did no damage to the sewn pieces, or so I thought. I collected my work from her bed, scolded her and got back to work adding to the back. This is now a month into the project.

Okay, back fixed, batting replaced, time to pin all the pieces together for quilting! That's when I found out that my beloved dog, Grace, did do damage to the quilt leaving a hole right in the middle of the top piece. Argh! Still, I finished pinning everything together and went to quilt it but the machine quilting I had planned just looked awful. So I decided to hand tie it. Thanks to an up tic in work, this all got put aside for another month.

I started tying my quilt and it seemed like this was the way to go. I could only do a few rows at a time, though, since, by this time, I was deep into working on the Zombie X-Stitch book (in stores Spring 2010!) so it took another month. I finished tying it last week and bound the edges this past weekend with little problems (and lots of Doctor Who). Once that was all done I covered the hole Grace made with a butterfly applique and added a few more to make it all look more deliberate and less like I was covering a hole made by my dog. This afternoon I finished the last applique and was finally finished. Yea!

Here are some pics!The front of the quilt (that center butterfly is hiding that pesky hole).A close up of one of the butterflies. I'm actually really happy with how they turned out and think they make a beautiful addition to the finished quilt.The back of the quilt. I'm quite fond of how this patchwork turned out.

Then I decided to wash it. I guess I'm glad I did since pretty much all of the ties came loose and I'd rather that happen to me than to my friend, but man was it crushing when I took it out of the machine. This evening I fixed all the ties and I think they will hold. To quote my mom, "dear, once you finish that I suggest you box it up and pack it away before anything else can happen to it." And that's exactly what I did.

I'm so happy it's done. Had I not been making this for such a good reason, I'd have scrapped it long ago but I'm glad I didn't. I'm really happy with how it looks and I hope it comforts my friend and lets her know she's loved.

Wednesday, November 11, 2009

If you've tried to email me at theboyfriend [at] myimaginaryboyfriend.com this past year and I didn't get back to you, I'm sorry. I thought I was having it forwarded to my regular email account but apparently I screwed up the forwarding somehow. Because of this, lots of emails have gone unanswered.

Monday, October 26, 2009

Hello Lovlies! (if anyone's still reading this after all the neglect I've been showing it of late)

Hope you are all well. As I said last time big things have been going on in my neck of the woods. And now I can tell you about a few of them. First off, and the biggest of my big things, I've been working on a craft kit!I did all the writing and the amazing cross stitch artist Kristina Kizzee designed all the patterns and stitched all the samples. It's super fun and funny (if I do say so myself) and I can't wait for it to come out in the Spring. I'll let you know more about the release date and where you can find it as soon as I know all the details. But until then, dig that awesome cover!

In addition to the book (yea!) I've been getting ready for the holidays. I'm happy to tell you about the craft fairs I'm doing for the season. The first is Crafty Wonderland in Portland, OR on December 13th. It's my first time in Portland and I can't wait. Apparently, according to my friend Sarah, it's full of some of my favorite things - bikes, boys, and beer (better than those sodding girls in white dresses with blue satin sashes anyday!). I also get to spend time with the lovely Susan Beal and sell my wares to a new and lovely crowd. If you're in the area, come by and say "hi!" I'd love to meet you.

Not in the Pacific Northwest? Perhaps you'll be in San Francisco the following weekend of December 19th and 20th. If you are in "the City" that weekend, you should come by and visit me at the first Renegade Holiday Craft Fair San Francisco. Unable to make either show, no worries! You can visit the Etsy shop! I've already added a bunch of Christmas items to the store and more will be added for your holiday shopping pleasure very soon.

The logs are also doing quite well and can be found in kit form at www.modcloth.com and The Curiosity Shoppe (though currently only in their brick and mortar store in San Francisco) and in pillow form at www.chopshop.com. You can also still buy them from me personally in my Etsy shop. Everyone loves a log after all!

In non-Boyfriend news, I've been making a quilt for a friend in need. A quilt that keeps hitting massive roadblocks along the way including having part of it eaten by my dog! I started in July and I'm still working away. I hope to be done really soon so that I can send it and all my love to her from so far away.

Then there's my Halloween costume. Here's a taste:andI'm gonna be a zombie cat lady. Thanks to the book (yea!) I think I've got zombies (and zombie cats) on the brain!

Okay, back to work. Must sew and work on a few more things I can't quite talk about just yet. Love to all who are still around, thanks for sticking by me!

Saturday, June 27, 2009

So I'm here in MIBFHQ busily preparing for the upcoming Renegade San Francisco but it's always nice to take a crafty break from the insanity.

My break came in the form of wedding invites for my lovely friend Jen. She's doing a big time DIY wedding and and I offered to break out the Gocco and get to printing. I'm super happy with how they turned out! So happy I thought I'd share!

Monday, June 8, 2009

Hi old friends and new friends!A big thank you to all who visited during Maker Faire. It was such a good time! For those of you who couldn't make it, check out my super cool new show set up for this season:I'm so very happy with it!

I was also lucky enough to be interviewed for the latest installment of the wonderful Threadbanger. Yea! What great folk, LOVE THEM! I want them to be my new best friends!

I also got to meet the wonderful Kevin Kidney (though I didn't realize it at the time!) who's blog is full of so much vintage Disney and Tiki wonderfulness. He came by my booth and I was all "man, that looks like Kevin Kidney. . . I love his work!" but didn't have the nerve to say anything lest I be wrong. So this is me making up for being a scaredy-cat blog fangirl.

Anyway, thanks again to all who popped by!

If you couldn't make it, new items will be up in the Etsy shop super soon. I'm taking cute pics of things today and tomorrow and as soon as that's done they will be in the shop. Yea!

Tuesday, May 26, 2009

Hi!Just wanted to let you know that Maker Faire is this weekend and I will be there flogging my wares in the Bazaar Bizarre exhibition. It should be great fun! There's sooooo very much to do, the craft fair is just a small slice of the awesome pie. Hope to see you there. There will be pictures of the splendors throughout the weekend.

Monday, May 18, 2009

Been a while, I know. . . I have had such a hart time balancing my work with the boyfriend, the odd freelance job, and my work with CraftStylish that I let things slip a bit. . . well, more than a bit really. . . but I'm here to say that that's going to change soon. I'll have sooooo much time coming up because I won't be writing for CraftStylish after this month.

That site will be changing soon from a blog with a handful of highly skilled contributors into a site with user-generated content. I wish them all the luck in the world. I owe them a lot, because of my work with CS I've met and worked with so many amazing people and have so many new and wonderful friends. Besides, CS's loss is my blog's gain!

Now that I'm not stretched so thin, I'll have more to say here (good news for all, I'm sure!). And I'd like to continue posting projects like those I've done for CS. Maybe not weekly like I've been doing for them, but at least once a month, just to keep those gears ticking.

In the meantime, check out my new tote bag design!Pretty sweet! No? I figure so many people love the logs, I might as well embrace my Log Lady status. The bags and other super cool new items will make their debut at this year's Maker Faire and will appear in the boyfriend's Etsy shop soon after. Woo hoo!

Also, if you haven't yet, why not check out my work for CraftStylish? I'm awfully proud of it.

Saturday, March 14, 2009

I had to cancel my upcoming class due to personal issues and the need for a sudden move out of my super adorable little house. I'm so sad. Life is in all sorts of upheaval and what I thought were lifelong bonds have been tested and broken. I must admit, I'm all at sea and have no clue what to do next. I just have to get this all worked out and keep on working.

Sometimes, sadly, life gets in the way of craft and unfortunately this class was a casualty. Luckily there will be more classes in the future so if you were planing on taking this class I will be able to make it up to you very soon.

Wednesday, February 25, 2009

Do you live in LA? Want me to teach you to embroider? Well, you're in luck! My Embroidery 101 class at ReForm School: Home Ec. has just had an extra session added. There are still spaces left in the March 4th class if you're interested. Call ReForm School for more information.

Interested? Here's what you'll get:This stitch sampler:and the fabric to make your own during the class as you learn the above stitched (and more!).AND. . .This Sampler:(or a pack of Sublime Stitching patterns) upon which to practice your newly learned stitches.

Why, you may ask, have I been gone? Well, I suppose it's two fold. . . One: non-Boyfriend things have sort of taken over in these parts and Two: I feel I've sort of let everyone down with promises of big things to come and then they didn't. I know that's silly, but it was like I failed myself and in a way failed you, so I went into a bit of hiding.

Anyway. . . Here I am!

I'm still feeling kind of stuck Boyfriend-wise, unsure where to go beyond logs and log related merchandise. The big plan that fell through. . . well, I was going to start a robot-a-day project in the new year but the new year came fast (as new years often do) and life problems put craft plans on hold. I still want to do it but I'm still unsure of when I'll be able to start.

So, yeah, these past few months have been uncertain here at MIBF HQ, much as they've been the whole world wide, but since I try to keep this craft and Boyfriend centered I just kept my bitching to myself and Facebook.

But I promise I'm back.

I want to start a few regular features. The first will be my thrift/antique finds. I'm going to make you all sooooo jealous that I live here in cosmopolitan Bakersfield! I'll also link to my regular CraftStylish posts and keep you up to date as I try to further my screen printing skills in the very near future. What I won't do is hide in my shell again when things get tough. I'll share my work with you both the great work and the not so great. What I make, you will see.